BANNOCKBURN, IL – A recent IPC study on worker skills gap indicates most US electronics assemblers are having a hard time recruiting qualified production workers, and an even harder time finding qualified engineers and other technical professionals.

Among production jobs, general assembler and hand solderer are the most difficult to fill, says IPC. On the professional side, quality control, process and entry-level electrical engineers have been hardest to find.

Insufficient experience is the most common reason applicants do not qualify for most positions, according to the study. For many engineering and other technical professional positions, however, the leading reason jobs went unfilled is there were no applicants at all.

Respondents cite many essential skills in short supply, but the most commonly cited are soldering for production jobs, and engineers with industry experience, especially in process, test and quality control.

A representative sample of 45 US contract electronics manufacturers and OEMs contributed data.